


Gift baskets and dinosaur nuggets

by ArwenLightwood



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Accidental Baby Acquisition, Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, I think?, M/M, Sad with a Happy Ending, but they are happy in the end!!!!, im sorry, very sad indeed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-09-24 20:57:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17107988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArwenLightwood/pseuds/ArwenLightwood
Summary: He didn’t cry. Not when he heard the news. Not at the funeral. He was too angry to be sad. Too angry at Scott for leaving in the first place. Too angry at the García Pack for inviting his best friend to what had been his last trip. Too angry at Kira for trusting him to be the godfather of a now orphan two-year old kid. Too angry at Derek for daring to cry when he thought no one was paying attention to him.





	Gift baskets and dinosaur nuggets

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this because grad school is hard and I'm sad and I needed to project my feelings somehow. English is not my first language and this work is unbeta'd, so I'm really sorry for my (many) mistakes! Let me know if I had butchered your precious language too badly.

‘Nope. This is not happening. Not today, Satan.’

‘Stiles!’

Apparently, it _was_ happening.

‘I beg you, Scott. Don’t make me go back inside. I’ll buy you a thousand dinosaur nuggets! Two thousand! A billion!’

He could have run to his Jeep and gone home, Stiles knew it, but he didn’t, because fifteen years earlier he had decided that the kid with the crooked smile and the Spiderman t-shirt was going to be his best friend and now was not the time to have second thoughts, not when they had gone together through all the werewolf shit. So instead of escaping, Stiles stayed where he was in front of the rebuilt Hale house.

‘I wouldn’t ask you to if I had any other option. You know that.’

‘Isaac? Erica? Your mom? The guy who smells like cheddar and works the late shift in that new café downtown? Seriously, dude, there are like a trillion better options than me. And Derek.’

‘Isaac’s been gone for years. I still don’t know if I can trust him. Plus, remember how much you disliked him in high school? And Erica is terrible with kids!’

‘Okay, fair points. But what about Melissa?’

‘She has to work,’ Stiles let out a whine. ‘Come on. You’re his godfather. He adores you. And Derek can check on him during the full moon.’

‘Can’t you put off the trip? Just after New Year’s Eve. You know how excited I am about getting wasted and hooking up with some random stranger! I’ve been planning this for months, Scott. _Months_. I need it. I need it to fucking forget my fucking stupid crush on certain fucking…’

‘I know! And I’m sorry! But I can’t. I’ve been formally invited to spend Christmas with the García Pack. I can’t say no to them without starting some kind of diplomatic war that we cannot face right now.’

Stiles _hated_ when Scott was right.

‘I want two bottles of whiskey as a reward. And dinosaur nuggets.’

Scott grinned at him.

‘I’ll send you a gift basket.’

  

* * *

 

 

That was the last conversation Stiles could remember having with Scott. He knew that there had been others before his departure, as well as some words exchanged along with hugs on the Hale house’s doorstop, Luca on Derek’s arms waving goodbye at his parents. He only got one text before the call.

 

_why didn’t we go on that road trip we planned after college???? this is awesome!_

Stiles’s response remained unanswered.

 

_You got married and had a kid. YOU failed me. Add another bottle of whiskey to the gift basket as compensation._

* * *

 

 

He didn’t cry. Not when he heard the news. Not at the funeral. He was too angry to be sad. Too angry at Scott for leaving in the first place. Too angry at the García Pack for inviting his best friend to what had been his last trip. Too angry at Kira for trusting him to be the godfather of a now orphan two-year old kid. Too angry at Derek for daring to cry when he thought no one was paying attention to him.

The truth was that Stiles couldn’t afford the tears that were threatening to flood his eyes. Someone had to handle the situation and make sure that Melissa was sleeping and eating enough, that Luca’s adoption papers were correctly filled, that the car accident had been that, an _accident_. By the time he was done with his work, three months had passed, and Luca didn’t cry anymore asking about his parents. He was still living in the Hale house, where he had planned to spend Christmas with Derek and the kid until Scott’s return, because he hadn’t found the courage to go back to his small flat and deal with the solitude. Derek hadn’t complained, even though he wasn’t Luca’s legal guardian and wasn’t expected to deal with an angry toddler and a moody twenty-four-year-old guy. Stiles had heard Isaac ask Derek about that, and his response had been reassuring and worrying all at once: _they are my pack_. That had been the end of the discussion, and not even the Sheriff had questioned their living arrangements.

The thing was that it worked. It worked even though the world had collapsed around Stiles. And that was all that mattered to him. To them.

 

* * *

 

A year passed and Stiles still wondered how it had happened. How the hell a werewolf and a kitsune with incredible reflexes and healing powers could die in a car accident. He wondered whether that same healing power kept them from having a quick and peaceful death. Did they suffer? Did they stay awake while their bodies pointlessly tried to heal their mortal wounds? There was no way he could ask the authorities that. And it was too late to share his worries with the pack, not when he was supposed to have moved on.

 

* * *

 

 

Two years later, Luca called him _dad_. He did so without a second thought and continued playing as if he hadn’t taken Stiles’s breath away. Derek pushed him towards the kitchen, a concerned look in his face. He saw the panic attack coming before Stiles could even realize what was happening.

 

* * *

 

‘I’m not his father. I’m not Scott. I can’t…’

‘Shhh,’ Derek shushed him, a comforting hand pressed against Stiles’s neck. ‘It’s okay.’

‘No, it’s not. I’m an impostor.’

‘You’re not. You’re not trying to replace Scott. You’re doing your best and that is more than enough.’

 

* * *

 

 

So, it stuck. Isaac was _uncle_. Derek sometimes was _alpha_ , sometimes was _pa_. And Stiles was _dad._ Until one day Stiles wasn’t.

 

* * *

 

 

Luca was six and going through a rebel phase. He had learnt bad words at school and enjoyed using them at home just to drive Stiles insane.

‘That’s it. No TV tonight. Go to your room.’

Stiles wasn’t even paying too much attention to him. He was busy cooking dinner, waiting for Derek to get out of the shower to set the table.

‘You can’t decide that!’ Luca protested. ‘You’re not my dad!’

Stiles froze at his words. He knew he had to say something, whatever to make sure that Luca didn’t continue challenging his authority, but he couldn’t find the right words. Before it was too late, though, Derek entered the kitchen and flashed his eyes red at the kid, who responded with a golden flash himself. The challenge didn’t last long. Five seconds later Luca lowered his head with tears in his dark eyes.

‘Apologize to Stiles,’ Derek said, incredibly calmed.

‘I’m sorry, dad,’ Luca whispered.

Stiles blinked a couple of times before turning to the kid.

‘It’s fine,’ he replied. ‘Now wash your hands before dinner. You’re still not watching TV tonight.’

Luca nodded and left.

Stiles tried to get back to the unfinished dinner, but Derek stopped him and trapped him in between his strong arms. The hug was unexpected, but Stiles melted into it and closed his eyes, wishing the tears away.

 

* * *

 

 

‘Your dad has offered to watch Luca tonight,’ Derek announced the following Saturday morning.

‘Why?’

‘I was cleaning the loft when I found the gift basket. Still unopened.’

Stiles averted his eyes. He had received the basket two days after the funeral. Somehow Scott had bought it before the accident, and what had been a joke had become a terrible reminder of the loss they had suffered.

‘So?’

‘I threw the nuggets away, but the whiskey is good,’ Derek continued, nonchalantly. ‘And I remember that your plan for that Christmas was to get wasted and hook up with some stranger.’

‘So?’ Stiles repeated.

‘I can’t do anything about the stranger, but I think we should get drunk tonight.’

Stiles arched an eyebrow.

‘What?’

‘I thought monosyllables were my thing,’ Derek said, clearly amused.

Stiles snorted before returning his attention to the TV. Some random cartoons characters that Luca adored were having a tea party.

‘Thanks, but that’s not necessary.’

‘Well, I’m getting drunk tonight. You’re welcome to join me.’

‘What does drunk mean?’ Luca decided to ask then.

 

* * *

 

 

Stiles discovered that Derek was not lying when he came home from work and found a childless house and a relaxed alpha drinking some kind of whiskey and wolfsbane cocktail on the couch.

‘Where is the pack?’

He had expected the betas to join them, but the house was empty.

‘I asked them not to come. Today’s for terribly exhausted dads.’

Stiles smiled, not only at Derek’s decision, but at the way in which he had called himself a dad.

‘Good call.’

Stiles dropped his bag next to the couch and took a sit next to Derek, silently accepting the bottle he offered him.

‘Cheers.’

The first sip burnt his throat. The second his stomach. The third he took without thinking.

‘Last time I drank I was twenty-four, fresh out of grad school and thinking about moving out of California,’ he admitted.

Derek frowned, his eyes glued on the black screen of the TV.

‘You wanted to leave?’

Stile shrugged.

‘For a while, at least. I needed a break from… everything.’

‘You were just back from UCLA.’

‘Exactly: UCLA. I wanted to distance myself from…’

‘Us,’ Derek concluded.

The old Stiles would have lied and denied everything. The new, though, didn’t see the point in trying to hide the truth.

‘Yeah.’

Derek nodded and took another gulp from his cocktail.

‘You can still do it.’

‘Last time I checked I had a job and a kid whose grandmother lives in Beacon Hills.’

‘Melissa could visit you. I bet she’d like to travel a bit. And you’re an IT guy. You can work wherever you want.’

Stiles rolled his eyes.

‘Are we gonna ignore the fact that Luca calls you _pa_? As in papa? And you’re his alpha. I can’t take him away from his pack.’

‘You keep forgetting that it’s not only his,’ Derek muttered.

‘Yeah, whatever.’

Silence fell between them for the next bottle of whiskey.

‘What were your plans when all this shit happened?’ Stiles finally asked, feeling lightheaded.

The question must have been funny in a way Stiles couldn’t understand, because it made Derek smile.

‘Unrealizable dreams.’

Stiles snorted.

‘Derek Hale, a dreamer,’ he joked. ‘What was it? Did you want to change the world? Become a princess?’

Derek pushed him, carefully enough not to throw him out of the couch.

‘The house was finished, I had just translated my first book, and I was no longer the alpha. I thought… maybe it was time to settle down and lead a normal life.’

‘Maybe,’ Stiles agreed.

‘But I like how things turned out,’ he continued, surprising Stiles. ‘I would do anything to bring Scott and Kira back, that’s for sure. But I don’t think my life sucks. I adore Luca.’

‘Yeah, me too,’ Stiles murmured.

He let his head rest on Derek’s shoulder.

‘And you’re not as terrible as I thought you’d be.’

Stiles couldn’t see his face, but he knew Derek was smirking.

‘Asshole,’ Derek hummed and started running his fingers through Stiles’s hair. ‘Wanna watch _The Lord of the Rings_ and drink every time Legolas does weird shit in the background?’

 

* * *

 

 

They did watch _The Lord of the Rings_ and then _Twilight_. The whiskey disappeared after the first one, so Derek brought some beers from the fridge and they watched the second pressed together on the couch from shoulder to thigh, laughing at every absurd detail that made the movie ridiculous.

‘Vampires: real or not?’

‘I hope not,’ Derek replied. ‘I would feel terrible killing a sparkling creature.’

‘Isaac would love them. He’d probably resent the fact that you turned into a furry before he met a vampire. Sparkling skin would match his scarves.’

‘Don’t call us furry. That’s disturbing.’

‘Furry,’ Stiles said just to annoy him.

‘That’s probably something you’re into,’ Derek retorted.

‘As if. I can’t remember the las time I got some action. Someone would think that being bisexual means getting laid twice as much, but turns out that the double of zero is still zero,’ he paused for a moment before asking: ‘Does jerking off with a wool glove makes you a furry?’

‘I don’t know,’ Derek answered without questioning his line of thought. ‘Where you dressed up as an animal or was it just a glove? Anyway, that must have been messy.’

Stiles kicked his leg.

‘Stop imagining me jerking off, you pervert. Plus, it was a hypothetical question.’

‘After all these years I think I know how your ‘hypotheticals’ work.’

‘If my ‘hypotheticals’ were not hypothetical, then I wouldn’t be complaining about my lack of sexual activity.’

‘Are you going to keep talking about sex?’

‘Maybe. Does it bother you? Cause if it does, the answer is yes.’

Derek shoved him away, pressing a big and warm hand against his face. Stiles flailed and tried to escape.

‘Why, Derek, don’t you wanna talk about my penis? You hurt my feelings,’ he laughed.

‘Keep your penis to yourself, Stilinski.’

‘That’s what I’ve been doing and it’s making him sad. Don’t you care about my sad penis?’

‘For God’s sake, I beg you: shut up.’

Stiles finally managed to grab Derek wrist and free his face from the alpha’s grip.

‘Make me,’ he joked, waggling his eyebrows ironically.

‘Fine.’

One moment Stiles was wondering what Derek was going to do and the next their lips were devouring each other. It wasn’t even a surprise. It was needy and rushed, a fast dance of lips, tongues and hands. At some point Stiles’s shirt was unbuttoned and Derek lost his t-shirt, but Stiles couldn’t care less now that he was sitting on the couch with the alpha straddling him, their hands working fast on each other’s jeans. Derek was faster, distracting Stiles by biting him in the neck, and broke the kiss as soon as he managed to get rid of Stiles’s boxers and jeans. When he stayed put a minute too long staring at his hard on.

‘Way to make a guy feel self-conscious in the worst possible moment, dude,’ he complained, almost out of breath.

‘You lied,’ Derek replied, meeting his eyes with a sly smile.

‘What?’

‘This doesn’t look like a sad penis.’

‘Oh my God, are you fucking serious? I miss the days when you didn’t have a sense of humor.’

Derek laughed before pressing his forehead against Stiles’s, his right hand wrapping around his dick.

‘No, you don’t.’

‘F-fuck,’ Stiles moaned. ‘You’re right. Now you’re—fuck, Derek. You’re a good match to my wit.’

‘You think?’ Derek whispered in his ear, his lips barely touching Stiles’s skin while his hand kept stroking him.

‘Keep doing that and I-I’m not gonna last long.’

Instead of stopping, Derek started moving more energetically, looking Stiles in the eye.

‘God, you’re so beautiful,’ he said, and then, just as Stiles came in his hand ‘I love you.’

Maybe it was because of the hormones or the tiredness, maybe it was because of Derek’s words, but Stiles burst into tears for the first time in years. Once the gates were open, he couldn’t stop.

‘Fuck, fuck, fuck.’

He tried to run away, pushing Derek away, but the alpha kept him where he was and without pronouncing a single word retrieved his t-shirt and used to clean them both before sitting next to Stiles and wrapping him.

‘Stiles,’ he murmured. ‘It’s okay. It’s alright.’

And maybe, maybe this time Derek was right.

 

* * *

  

The following morning wasn’t awkward. Probably because they had spent the night talking in the dark, spooning in Derek’s bed after a long shower that had calmed Stiles down. For the first time in forever, Stiles talked about Scott and Derek answered all his questions about the healing process as best as he could. They talked about Luca and their future, about Derek finally adopting him. By the time they left the house and headed towards the Sheriff’s, Stiles wasn’t afraid of holding Derek’s hand in public, not even if that public happened to be his dad and his kid.

Because Luca was his, and so was Derek.

He wasn’t replacing Scott, because that couldn’t be done.

He was being Stiles, doing what Scott and Kira had trusted him to do. And that was okay.

**Author's Note:**

> When Scott dies Derek becomes the alpha again because.


End file.
